Fishing for Plot Bunnies

"After many years of close observation and data collection, I hypothesise that the plot bunny (scientific name: fiction distractus) is most commonly found in the presence of its more adapted relative a written work-in-progress, fiction novella. The plot bunny is easily recognised by its brightly coloured fur coat. This outer skin has evolved to attract the creature's elusive prey - the writer species, which is believed to inhabit libraries. Although writers are able to co-exist peacefully with fiction novella and lingua poetica, the plot bunny has the ability to override writers' mental processes and disrupt the calm symbiosis with other forms of words. The plot bunny then uses the writers' mental processes to feed and into fiction novella - often at the cost of another written work-in-progress."

~ Extract taken from: "A Treatise on the Behaviour and Development of Plot Bunnies in Writer Communities" by The Society for the Protection of New Novels from Plot Bunnies (2015) Handbook.  

 

(Disclaimer: I invented those Latin names and I have no idea if they're actual Latin or what they would mean, but I'm back at university so I felt like starting this off this post with an academic note)

Plot Bunnies are dangerous. They can really cause havoc when you're trying finish a novel that you've bee writing for ages. They shine, glitter and entice you with their siren's call until you're stepping off the writing boat you've captained for months. Then you drown. 

They always appear when you don't want them, but, when you haven't worked on a novel in months and need something new...the ocean is empty.

(I realise that I'm creating a very confusing image, talking about aquatic plot bunnies, but if anyone would like to do some artistic magic to produce one I'm sure we would all enjoy seeing it)

I haven't had pulled a real, wonderful plot bunny from my mind in ages. In a way, it makes me worries. I have been writing - a few short stories here and there from equally short flashes of inspiration - but I miss having a novel to dedicate my time to.

I've tried using my usual plot bunny bait. Pinterest, movies, new music...but I haven't had that spark, the jerk of a plot bunny biting and demanding to be written. It seems that I have to try a different tactic to attract a plot bunny. I'm going to provide its prey: a novel in progress.

How? I'm rewriting an old project. A half-decent story that I wrote in Grade 11. The story itself was pretty good (blowing my own trumpet here, but my writing is usually so bad I deserve to brag about something good every now and then), so I've been meaning to work on the rest of the book's layers in a rewrite. The effort of working on something as distraction-prone as a rewrite is bound to attract a plot bunny. I hope.

This post was written in line with this month's theme, The Ideas We Carve.

xx Munira